Exclusive: What Made Mukesh Rishi Miss A Remarkable Role In Aamir Khan Starrer “Lagaan”?

One of the prominent faces among Bollywood antagonists, Mukesh Rishi, was recently seen in Rohit Shetty’s web series “Indian Police Forec”. With his dominant on-screen presence, impactful acting skills and his muscular physique, he has kept himself noticeable among all the artists. Mukesh Rishi is renowned for the villain he played in the movie “Gunada”. His “Bulla” character from that movie is gaining tremendous popularity on social media as meme material. In an exclusive interview with Lehren Retro he shared his remarkable journey in the film industry. He elaborated on how he missed the opportunity to work in Oscar-nominated film “Lagaan”. 

He entered the Bollywood film industry with a small role in the film “Gardish”. He was the fresh face in that film starring legends of the film industry like Shammi Kapoor, Farida Jalal, Raj Babbar, Jackie Shroff, Amrish Puri, Dimple Kapadia and there were many big names involved. But Raj Babbar told Mukesh Rishi that his presence would outshine others. Remembering that incident, Mukesh Rishi said, “He was senior and he had read the script. I got an opportunity to spend an evening with him. Then he told me that ‘everyone is renowned, and you are a new face, so you have to take care of yourself. And tune pathaani suit pehna na bhul ja, kuchh nahi tere samne’, and those words created a magic inside me.” His performance in that movie was noticeable and the rest is history.

This fellow sacrificed his comfort i.e. he didn’t go behind his family business and decided to do something on his own. And gradually he made his way into movies. Till date, this “Sooryavansham” actor has worked with all the old as well as fresh faces in the industry. He fired the screen in the movie “Sarfarosh” with Aamir Khan. He later missed two opportunities to work with Aamir. He was offered the role of Deva Singh Sodhi in the movie “Lagaan”. But by that time, he was already occupied by his 3–4 films and later that role was played by Pradeep Ram Singh Rawat. He was asked for one of the characters in “Laal Singh Chaddha” but back then he was busy making his own film and couldn’t work in the film. 

He shared many insights into his dramatic journey in the exclusive interview, go watch the interview for the exclusive story of Mukesh Rishi. 

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